A supreme hunter that likes to take its prey in flight!
Sorry for some graphic pictures that might disturb some here!
This Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus) surprised me with his hunting prowess from a great height.
When I first saw him, he was a mere dot in the sky and his dive was so fast that I could not get the dive on a camera.
Almost as fast as the Peregrine Falcon.
All of the photos here were taken on my Super Zoom.
Come and read the story!
See the little black spot at the left in the sky?
That's the falcon just before he dived!
I rushed to a back wall to see him coming in to land in this oak tree. If you look carefully at the tree trunk, you can see him, as it is about 70 meters away from where I was standing!
Bang! There he was and he had prey!
Look at the beauty of this guy!
They have extremely clear sight and although only my camera was sticking out behind the wall, he knew that I was there!
Again he looked at me, as if to see if I was coming any closer!
Look at his eyes following my waving hand over the distance.
Oh yes, he caught a dove in flight!
Not a pretty picture, but a guy has got to eat!
Then the unexpected happened, our three crows decided to appear!
He was fluffing and I thought that he was going to fly, but instead he flew deeper into the tree and I lost him.
And sadly that was that, as although I waited for an hour (they finish a meal very quick) I did not see him again. I think that when he took off, the tree covered his departure.
Did you know that the Lanner Falcon is a part of this;
"This is presumably the oldest living hierofalcon species".
Now what is the "hierofalcon" species?
"The hierofalcons are four closely related species of falcon which make up the subgenus Hierofalco:
• Lanner falcon, Falco biarmicus
• Laggar falcon, Falco jugger
• Saker falcon, Falco cherrug
• Gyrfalcon, Falco rusticolus "
"The radiation of the entire living diversity of hierofalcons seems to have taken place in the Eemian interglacial at the start of the Late Pleistocene, a mere 130,000–115,000 years ago; the lanner falcons would thus represent the lineage that became isolated in sub-Saharan Africa at some time during the Riss glaciation (200,000 to 130,000 years ago)".
Source
Note also here that Lanner Falcons have been placed on the "Red Data List" meaning that they are now endangered!
And That's All Friends!
Note: All photos are my own and taken with a Canon Powershot SX60HS camera.
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